Local News

Father Sues Cell Service Provider Over Nude Selfies

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A father is suing Sprint Corp. and Nextel of California Inc. after a phone he bought allegedly had pornography images on it that were later seen by his underage son.

Arsen Garibyan filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of his son in Los Angeles Superior Court. The suit alleges breach of contract, fraud, breach of the implied warranty of merchantability and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The complaint also alleges the phone was used rather than new, as Garibyan thought.

Sprint spokeswoman Eronia Singleton did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

According to the complaint, Garibyan bought two phones along with a cellular service plan in October 2011 at the Sprint store on Lake Avenue in Pasadena. The phones were packaged in new boxes with original instructions and manuals, the suit states.

After Garibyan and his son returned home, the boy opened one of the phones to play games, according to the complaint.

``After a few minutes, (the boy) started asking, `Daddy, what is this?,''' the suit states. ``When Mr. Garibyan looked at the telephone in (his son's) hand, to his shock, horror and disgust, (the child) was looking at pornographic photos and videos contained on one of the newly purchased phones.''

The images were of a male and a female sales representative the father recognized from the same Sprint store where he bought the phones, the suit states.

``These include full-body naked as well as genital-focused graphic pictures and videos of the Sprint Nextel sales representatives,'' the suit states.

Sprint was already on notice that it had allegedly sold phones with pornographic images after a Georgia woman filed a similar lawsuit against the company and Radio Shack, where she bought the phone last year for her 13-year-old daughter, according to the Garibyan complaint.